A modular design of ruthenium catalysts with diamine and BINOL-derived phosphinite ligands that are enantiomerically-matched for the effective asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of simple ketones.

A method is reported for making a potentially very wide series of ruthenium hydrido chloro complexes with diamine and readily-prepared diphosphinite ligand modules as precatalysts for the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of simple ketones to give chiral alcohols in good yield and enantioselectivity.